HeroEngine Integrates SpeedTree 6

HeroCloud Integrates SpeedTree® for Games v6 for an All-In-One Game Development Solution

SpeedTree for Games v6 to provide HeroCloud game developers with a professional solution for adding realistic animated trees and foliage seamlessly into their games.

Idea Fabrik (Boerse Berlin GB00B61CVK31, TI4.BE) has announced integration with SpeedTree® for Games v6, the industry’s premier foliage middleware product, for its cloud hosted online game development platform, HeroCloud. SpeedTree 6 will be fully integrated with HeroEngine 2, which is due for release at the end of November; more details of which will be released soon.

With licenses beginning at just $99 per year, HeroCloud offers game developers on tight budgets low cost access to the HeroEngine and all its integrated tools as an all-in-one cloud-based solution for building, operating and monetizing 3D online games. HeroEngine is the technology solution used by AAA game studios making MMO’s and other online games. More than 7,000 game projects are already using the technologies, including BioWare, the creators of ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic.’

“Our goal with HeroCloud continues to be to make the game development process easier and less risky for indie and start-up game developers. We are putting all the professional tools necessary to take a game from concept to shipping straight into the developers’ hands,” said Cooper Buckingham, Director of Business Development for Idea Fabrik. “Integrating SpeedTree for Games v6 into HeroCloud will now also provide developers with a cutting-edge, easy way to add trees and vegetation to their online games.”

SpeedTree 6, released in July this year, delivers new options for modelling, animating and rapid rendering of trees and foliage, including; deferred rendering, a Wind Wizard that automatically computes wind parameters and per-texture colour balance controls for faster iterations.

“We’ve created a powerful toolkit to create trees and vegetation for games and other visual applications,” says Kevin Meredith, Director of Business Development for Interactive Data Visualization, Inc., creators of SpeedTree. “The seamless integration of SpeedTree into the HeroEngine will make it extremely accessible to indie game developers, and we applaud Idea Fabrik’s efforts to equalize the playing field for game development.”

About SpeedTree:

SpeedTree for Games, winner of a Front Line Award for middleware, delivers amazingly natural real-time trees and plants with seamless LOD transitions, an array of lighting, physics and wind effects, as well as an SDK that can be programmed to support any level of engine integration. SpeedTree includes SpeedTree Modeler, which offers a unique hybrid of hand and procedural modeling options and has been used in countless games and a growing list of movies, including Avatar. SpeedTree was created by Interactive Data Visualization, Inc. (IDV), founded in 1999 to develop graphic and visualization tools for a wide variety of industries. For more information, visit speedtree.com.